


Rest

by draculard



Series: Pellaeon/Thrawn 30 Day Ficlets [4]
Category: Star Wars Legends: Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Humor, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26260336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draculard/pseuds/draculard
Summary: Thrawn, it turns out, is not a morning person.
Relationships: Gilad Pellaeon/Thrawn | Mitth’raw’nuruodo
Series: Pellaeon/Thrawn 30 Day Ficlets [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904581
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Rest

At 0512 according to the shipboard clock, Pellaeon collected night shift’s report from the bridge and headed toward Thrawn’s command room. He stepped into the antechamber and paused there, casting his eyes around each darkened corner in search of Rukh.

Patiently, he waited to feel the Noghri’s sharp blade against his throat. After thirty seconds, he frowned and looked around more thoroughly, even stepping into each corner and waving a hand through the shadows as if he might catch hold of Rukh even if he couldn’t see him.

But there was nothing waiting for him in the corners. Pellaeon gave Rukh another minute to attack and then, feeling strangely disappointed, entered Thrawn’s command room unannounced.

There was no one here, either. The display ring was darkened; the command chair was empty; Thrawn’s art holos were gone.

Shifting his datapad under his arm, Pellaeon flicked on his comlink and said, “Captain Pellaeon to Grand Admiral Thrawn.”

He counted the seconds until the static abruptly cut off and he got a response.

“The Grand Admiral is resting,” came Rukh’s gravelly voice. 

Resting? Pellaeon glanced around the empty command room with a frown, then headed right back out the door. He made his way to Thrawn’s quarters by 0520 and requested access there instead. His comlink pinged again almost at once.

“I _said_ he’s resting,” Rukh snapped. “No visitors.”

“I have the bridge report,” Pellaeon responded at once, not bothering to hide his irritation. “When’s he getting up?”

“Do you presume to give the Grand Admiral orders?” asked Rukh with a hint of menace. 

“These are _his_ orders that I’m trying to _follow_ ,” Pellaeon bit out. “Standing orders to bring the Grand Admiral each shift’s bridge report immediately for his perusal. I’m not going to disobey those orders because _you_ say he’s resting.”

As if Thrawn ever rested. Privately, Pellaeon wasn’t sure the Grand Admiral ever slept. He certainly seemed to think _Pellaeon_ didn’t; he called his first officer to his command room or his aft bridge office at all hours of the day, regardless of whether the captain was on duty.

“Are you going to let me in or not?” Pellaeon asked.

There was a brief pause. The connection fizzed and he heard the first syllable of Rukh’s denial before suddenly another voice cut in — a scratchy, dazed, just-woke-up kind of voice that Pellaeon almost didn’t recognize. 

“Come in, Captain,” said Thrawn. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

The connection ended. For a moment, Pellaeon just stared at his comlink, trying to process the fact that Thrawn actually had been resting. Then the doors slid open before him and he shook his head, stepping inside.

The admiral’s suite was the size of a small apartment, with a living area that looked entirely unused just inside the door. The layout was the same as Pellaeon’s quarters, with a study further aft, a kitchen directly across from the door, and a bedroom facing forward. He turned to it at once and tapped on the door with his knuckles.

There was no reason for him to wait for Thrawn to get dressed, he figured. He could pass the datapad to Rukh through the door and be on his way. But to his surprise, this door slid wide open just as the one to Thrawn’s suite had, and there was no Noghri waiting on the other side to take his datapad or block his view. 

“I thought … Rukh was in here,” said Pellaeon doubtfully, stumbling over the words. Thrawn lay in the bed before him, rubbing his closed eyes with both hands. When he raised his head a little to look at Pellaeon, it was obvious he was still half-asleep.

“Sent him out,” Thrawn said. He held one hand out expectantly, and after a moment Pellaeon stepped forward and passed him the datapad. 

“I didn’t realize you were sleeping,” he said as Thrawn held the datapad out before his eyes so he could read it without sitting up. 

“Zero to six,” said Thrawn groggily. “In theory. Today I suppose it’s three to five.”

Pellaeon winced, but didn’t bother with an apology. The Grand Admiral had interrupted his own sleep so many times that he hadn’t really earned one.

“Not a morning person, I see,” he said instead. Thrawn sighed through his nose and then shifted over, moving to the middle of the bed. He took one hand off the datapad to gesture at the empty space beside him.

“Might as well sit down, Captain,” he said, his eyes on the datapad. “We have some items to discuss.”

Pellaeon glanced at the empty space on the bed, then at Thrawn, who obviously wasn’t wearing a shirt beneath the blankets … and probably wasn’t wearing anything else, either. His lips quirked into a quickly-suppressed smile.

“I think I’ll get you some caf first, sir,” he said.


End file.
